The Graves

Sunday night we visited Valley View Memorial Cemetery to visit Grandma Hazel's and Corey's graves.

Then after our hike on Monday, we went to the Redwood Cemetery to visit the Parry and Larson graves.

The girls love to play at the cemetery. Sadie was doing acrobatics with Jeff while Kali was off exploring with Kate. Ashlyn was in heaven with all the flowers and although I told her numerous times not to pick the flowers, she magically ended up with several. I wish I had taken a picture of her after she had picked one particular flower from a flowerbed in the middle of the cemetery because she pulled so hard that the entire plant came out--dirt, roots, and all.

I wish my relative's graves were closer. But even though they aren't, I still spent time remembering them and all the happy times we shared together.

Ensign Peak

Our annual hike up Ensign Peak was a success again this year. Although I am carrying Ashlyn in this picture, she walked a majority of the hike.

The girls loved the flowers and the hike down the best, but I preferred the view and the beautiful weather.

The Graves

Our Memorial Day tradition of visiting the graves was a little different this year. We got to go a few days beforehand to help clean the headstones with mineral oil (which by the way, makes a huge difference in how pretty they look) and clip the grass right around them too. It's normally something Grandpa Parry does. Now, however, he isn't able to leave Grandma alone that long, so we went and helped out.

Thankfully, they were both able to make it out to the cemetery on Memorial Day. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to see Grandma and Grandpa out and about.

Ensign Peak

We have a new tradition for Memorial Day that we've done twice now and have loved each time--hiking Ensign Peak. Josh's dad came with us this year, as well as Brady and Jordan.

We got there early enough to beat the hiking crowd and to have a little fun before hand. Brady showed the girls how to pose in some karate moves, inspired by The Karate Kid, even though the girls have no idea who that is. We also ate donuts and milk, the perfect thing to eat when you know you're going hiking. It may not have given us the energy we needed but we knew we were likely to burn it all off. My favorite, a guilt-free, yummy breakfast.

Kali and Sadie did awesome on the hike, other than each taking a turn falling down and getting scratched up. Ashlyn, on the other hand, had to be carried the entire way. Thank goodness Brady was there. If I would have had to carry her the entire way, the hike would have taken twice as long.

Flowers & Windmills

Each year for Memorial Day we go to the Redwood Cemetery to visit the graves of some of Josh's relatives. The girls look forward to visiting with family and going out to lunch afterward. The flowers and windmills were quite exciting too. Ashlyn wandered off on her own to explore them all and it took us a minute to find her because she blended in so well. Sadie was more than content sitting with Aunt Kellie while spinning the windmill. And Kali was happy when she finally found a loose flower to put in her hair.

The day was cold but gorgeous. I spent some time thinking of Grandma and Grandpa Bohman and the fond memories I have of them. They had such a huge influence on me growing up and were the best grandparents a child could ask for. It's just unfortunate that they're buried so far away or else we would be visiting their grave sites each year too.